Can someone please explain the uses (pros and cons) of having a centre column on a tripod? The Gitzo tripods I mentioned above don't have centre columns and in some of the reviews I've read some customers had to buy a centre column for their Gitzo tripod. I apologise if this thread sounds a bit trivial, I'm an amatuer and I truely appreciate everyone's help

I have actually removed the centre column from my Manfrotto 055CXPRO3 tripod because I a) Don't need the extra height, b) Don't think it adds anything to the stability, in fact exactly the opposite, and c) It's just that fraction lighter without it.

I use a Markins M10 ballhead with RS LR11 quick release clamp clamps and plates. This kit does not come cheap and getting the RRS kit into the UK proved problematic (through no fault of RRS I should add) so I'd probably think twice about it another time: even though the product screams "quality" and works perfectly.

I've been through about half a dozen different tripods and heads during my time and what I am using now is the best for me. But remember that we are all different, what suits me will not be right for Fred the studio pro, or Joe the pro on that Sailing mag.

Flake

I wouldn't reccomend anyone buy a Bogen Manfrotto Tripod at the moment, they used to be industry standard, but now they have cheapened the product so much that there are too many attractive alternatives which do offer value for money. In fact the 055 ProBX costs so much money that you might as well buy the Gitzo - it's probably cheaper!

Want spiked feet? An optional extra! A strap? That's more money too! How about a bracket to allow you to have the camera in landscape? You guessed it - more money! want to lower the tripod and still keep the head vertical? yet again it's another extra. Want to angle the centre column between the vertical & the horizontal? Well sorry you can't, and you can't even buy an optional extra to allow you to do that. Want a ballast weight hook low down on the centre column? Hard luck because you can't!

In short the latest generation tripods are a pile of expensive junk you'd be well advised to look elsewhere. I know this from bitter experience with a 055ProBX which if I hadn't caught it would have fallen over in the slightest breeze with a 5D MkII and 17 - 40mm f/4 L. I got rid of it and bought a Giottos model which came with everything the Manfrotto charges a fortune for as standard, it allows the centre column to tilt and there's a hook on the end of it.

Just wanted to come back and say thanks for posting that, I hadn't heard of geared heads before either and picked up a 410 a few weeks back after reading about them. I do some amateur food photography and for work sometimes take photos of electronic assemblies and the like and they're awesome for anything that you need to frame with precision. The same applies to telephoto shots where the subject isn't moving they work great, especially vertically where you don't need to worry about lens flop.

As I expected they wouldn't be the best for panning or quick setup shots so I'll still keep my existing head for those odd occasions. I've used it with about 3Kg of kit and it remained smooth and generally felt very solid so no doubt the 5Kg maximum load is realistic.

Just wanted to come back and say thanks for posting that, I hadn't heard of geared heads before either and picked up a 410 a few weeks back after reading about them. I do some amateur food photography and for work sometimes take photos of electronic assemblies and the like and they're awesome for anything that you need to frame with precision. The same applies to telephoto shots where the subject isn't moving they work great, especially vertically where you don't need to worry about lens flop.

As I expected they wouldn't be the best for panning or quick setup shots so I'll still keep my existing head for those odd occasions. I've used it with about 3Kg of kit and it remained smooth and generally felt very solid so no doubt the 5Kg maximum load is realistic.

Yeah it is a brilliant head..... i've had a boring job of shooting a couple of hundred designer ties and accessories in the studio this week and it is so much better with this over my other heads.

Glad to have been able to help.

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scottsdaleriots

Can someone please recommend a good tripod head? The link I posted ^ in my previous post about the Really Right Stuff one only pans. I one a tripod that I can move/tilt left to right, up and down, diagonally, etc. There are so many options, I get the feeling that if you're serious about photography you should have more than one tripod and head. I just want one (head) for now.

Hi I'm new and I'm having trouble with deciding on which tripod I should buy, the 055xprob or the 190xprob? There are a few 190 variety of tripods from Manfrotto but I'm thinking of the 190xprob. Right now I'm thinking of buying the 055xprob in the near future. Only because I don't want to upgrade in the future and it holds more than the 190xprob does. I'm also looking to buy a flash, most likely the 580EX II as it's the most professional but I've also read that it has a few issues (I can't remember exactly, something with the hotshoe and something about the 430EX II being better than the 580EX II in some aspects.) I'm really hoping the 580EX III comes out soon - probably not in the foreseeable future If someone can point out the pros and cons and talk about their experience using these tripods/flashes it would help a lot. I've read heaps and heaps of reviews on amazon/adorama, etc.

I would like to do some portrait shots (and will buy a 'portrait' lens in the future) but I also want to go travelling (in the foreseeable future, most likely UK, Europe and USA) and buying a tripod would benefit me I think. I only have 1 camera (7D) and 2 lenses (my kit and walk around lens 18-200mm 3.5-5.6 IS lens and my 70-200mm 2.8 IS II lens). I will buy a 2nd and FF camera in the future (maybe 5D mark III).

Also if someone could tell me more about Adobe Lightroom as I'm interested in buying it - many people have told me it's better than photoshop as it's non-destructive and has a good gallery thing and good at renaming files. But I want to know a lot more before I buy this product. I'm currently using PS CS5 extended. But I've heard PS and Lightroom go hand-in-hand and work really well together. Any helpful information would be appreciated

Hi Scott,

All good questions that in one way or another crossed my mind over the last year after going digital and starting over with modern equipment.

Tripod: Oh, well. Start with the question if you really need one right now. If yes do a lot of research on this. For a serious camera (like your 7D with a 70-200 2.8 L) you need a serious tripod. You read all these stories how most of us start with some basic Manfrotto (or worse...) and then upgrade to the next level jsut to find out that they should have spend on something in the $1000 range in the first place. My Manfrotto story in short is that, yes, some of the high end stuff is ok and everything else is not really. Especially in cold weather their plastic clamps come apart. Happened to my several times. In fairness, after some back and forth they replaced my last tripod of the 190 variety for free. I keep this now for occasional use and very carefully. If I ever feel the need for using a tripod a lot more I'd probably look at some of the companies like Real Right Stuff and such. There are some slightly lower grade options available that have also gotten really good reviews by users. Can't remember their names right now.

580EXII: Went back and forth on that one. The only reasonable alternative seems to be the Metz 58 AF-2. The 580 has some know issues and there are many reports that it blows out under certain circumstances or for no obvious reason. A lot of this has been bot reported and disputed (look for the threads here with respect to the study done by Pocket Wizard). In the end I decided to go with the 580EXII and overall like it. I use it more often than my 430EXII because the wheel on the back is much nicer than the (sometimes non-responsive) buttons of the 430. The Metz has a few nice features (like a beep function similar to what Nikon offers) but in a direct comparison in the store the Canon felt a little more sturdy even though I've always been a Metz guy for the exact opposite reason. However, at this point I'd really wait a few months if possible and see if Canon really reworks their flash system which is really long overdue given the capabilities of the Nikon system. Flash systems and new 50mm lenses are the two things where I'm still hoping for something new and better in the near future and I'd be willing to upgrade at a loss.

Lens: Don't know what your preferences are. You have a great lens for the long range already that a lot of folks love for portraits. If you're planning to go full frame anyway soon you could invest in something to replace your EFs lens. Or add a good prime in your preferred focal range. Or just wait until you really go full frame since often things are more economical as a "kit" (like the 5DII with the 24-105 or so).

Lightroom: That's another "oh, well". Been there and I'm back at it again. Back then when I needed to upgrade from Photoshop 7 to something that supports CR2 files I went back and forth over this. For full disclosure: I'm eligible for an educator discount so we're talking about different variances here when it comes to money.

I couldn't be sold on the "LR3 does everything even a pro ever needs" idea. LR3 does a lot of editing really well. It even does some things differently and rather nicely that Photoshop CS5/camera raw does not do. But some things I would personally miss, e.g. real Doge and Burn options and real layers. Also I don't like the "non-destructive" database approach which is really the whole idea. Creates more clutter in my "work flow".

Notwithstanding, I actually just picked up a copy of LR3 in addition to my CS5 photoshop. It is nice for two things: working on batches of photos and some of the export functions namely to zenfolio. Other things I still find weird like the fact that it doesn't allow you to sync up two databases (as far as I know yet) if you work on more than one computer. CS5 of course doen't do that either but in my workflow I always keep a seperate folder for all edited files that I can sync and backup easily. If I work on a file on my laptop when I'm not at home - or several - than I always have to export a copy much like I would save things in CS5. So no gain really on that end. And then I find myself open things in PS anyway often because there I know what to find where (sort of). If you already have CS5 you are all set. No need to add LR3 really unless you are working on a lot of stuff at once or export a lot to places like zenfolio (no plug in for PS available...). With current prices for LR3 you may throw it in just for laughs and giggles and then qualify for the upgrade to LR4 if that is anything mind blowing (which I doubt). Same doubt about anything "mind blowing" I also have regarding any 5DII replacement. With current deals it may be worth considering the upgrade to full frame now rather than later. I'm semi-seriously debating storing away a second 5dII since I don't expect any improvements with future models that I'd personally find useful. YMMV of course with respect to all topics above. Enjoy.

I bought it about six months ago. I really wanted to like Lightroom. I tried it a few times and was greatly disappointed. I bought Scott Kelby's book on it and will probably get back to it one of these days, but here is my take:

I'm used to the Bridge interface for file management. I don't need or want an elaborate file management system, so I'd rather stick with what I know for something mindless like file management. I can double-click on an image in Bridge and it brings it into the Adobe Raw editor from Photoshop. Everything I've read indicates that there is no difference between the Photoshop Raw editor and Lightroom's Raw editor (the same adjustments are available in both).

I'm very used to the Photoshop Raw editor. It's what I know and use and I am comfortable doing my adjustments there. As part of my personal workflow, I usually open the file as a "smart object" in Photoshop, duplicate it one or more times and then go back into Raw to adjust specific areas of the image on these various layers. (later using a mask and the brush tool to overlay the layers).

One of the problems I found with Lightroom, was that when I double click to open a smart object in Raw, Photoshop defaults to its own Raw editor, so I end up working in the Photoshop Raw editor anyway. There may be some way to change that, but from my perspective, as long as I was going to be working in Photoshop Raw for half or more of my layers, why bother with a second interface?

I did not find any advantage to developing the image in Lightroom as opposed to Photoshop's Raw editor, so I guess for me, I haven't felt a strong need to change my workflow. I intend to make an effort at some point to go back and really give Lightroom another chance, but I've found I'd rather spend the time shooting and editing photos than learning a new program at this point.

On the other hand, for about the same money and at about the same time, I bought a "pro" version of OnOne Software's Photo Tools (Actually I think I got a free stripped-down version with Photoshop and then upgraded to the "pro" version). I use it almost daily. Yes, there are tons of cheesy effects that I would never use, but there are about a dozen really useful tools that I have come to absolutely rely on to save time and give me the look I'm after. For the money, I'd pick this over Lightroom any day (yes they are two different animals, but that's the point -- you already own a Raw editor with Photoshop, while the OnOne plug-ins give you something new.

Bottom line: If you own Photoshop already, Lightroom gives you a different interface and a different file management tool, but it doesn't give you a different Raw image editor.

I'm just one user, and I'm in the minority, but I just thought you ought to hear another opinion.

At this stage (and I'm willingly trying to use and learn LR3 at this point for a second time) I'd second that. Not sure if that really is a "minority opinion". I even recently went to a LR workshop and even there were quite a few people who are well aware of all the limitations and some buggy behavior of LR3.

For a photo-management library I find it very slow and cumbersome to add new stuff. Takes a while and tends to crash along the way (on a dual core 2.5 GB PC with a fast HD). And then there is the issue that I can't find a simple way to sync to PC's libraries. Without exporting things to my already existing file folder system on an external network drive I see no benefit here at all. Just more stuff to remember to update and back up.

The work flow may be very intuitive to some. I find it still weird and find myself jumping back and forth and scrolling a lot. The Bridge>CS5>file folder system> rinse/repeat approach is probably what I'll go back to. But hey, the experiment was only $90 and certainly looks pretty with the dark interface.